slots

Rosecroft’s supporters point fingers at Annapolis

In the wake of Rosecroft Raceway’s announcement that it will be closing July 1, supporters of the Fort Washington harness racing track are pointing fingers at Annapolis.

“They talk about ‘jobs, jobs, jobs,’ and when the Preakness and Pimlico were in trouble, the governor and others ran downstairs to save them,” Sen. C. Anthony Muse, D-Prince George’s, said Wednesday, referring to swift legislative action last year that protected the property and the state’s first right of refusal to the race.

“Here we have 200 jobs on the line and they have done absolutely nothing,” he said.

Kelley Rogers, president of Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc., which owns the race track that declared bankruptcy a year ago, said it was no longer financially viable to keep Rosecroft open.

“It just makes me sick. It really does,” he said. “The Legislature sat on their butt and didn’t do anything to save these jobs.”

Arundel slots petition case finally gets to judge

ANNAPOLIS — After more than three days of closing arguments, the fate of a county-wide referendum on a slots casino next to the Arundel Mills mall is in a judge’s hands.

 At issue is the validity of 22,967 signatures certified by the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections out of 40,408 collected during the petition drive by led by opponents of the casino, including the Maryland Jockey Club. The casino would be built and operated by Baltimore developer David Cordish.

PPE Casino Resorts Maryland LLC, a subsidiary of the Cordish Co., is suing the county board, challenging the process by which those signatures were verified.

In his rebuttal closing argument Thursday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, PPE attorney Anthony Herman explained why the company believes the board should have abided by the stricter county code regarding requirements for referendums and petitions.

Cordish lawyers assail validity of petition signatures

By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business

ANNAPOLIS—A Cordish Cos. subsidiary began its exhaustive closing argument Thursday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court in an effort to show that the county elections board erroneously approved a petition to put the company’s planned slots casino to a vote this fall.

At issue are the 22,967 signatures validated by the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections out of 40,408 collected during the petition drive led by casino opponents, including the Maryland Jockey Club, this spring. The casino is to be located near the Arundel Mills mall and is planned by Baltimore developer David Cordish.

Cordish subsidiary PPE Casino Resorts Maryland LLC is suing the county elections board, challenging the process by which the petition signatures were verified.

Arundel casino foes say petition drive disrupted

By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer

Opponents of Baltimore developer David Cordish’s proposed slots casino at Arundel Mills mall claim they’ve found a connection between The Cordish Cos. and the people who they say disrupted their petition signature-gathering efforts this winter.

In an affidavit filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, a private investigator said a company affiliated with Cordish Cos. hired a woman to disrupt opponents’ eventually successful petition drive to put the casino’s slots zoning up to a county-wide vote this fall.

An attorney for Cordish said his client denies the allegations.

The affidavit was filed last Friday by the Annapolis law firm Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver LLC, which represents opponents of the casino including the citizens group Stop Slots at Arundel Mills and the Maryland Jockey Club. The latter operates Laurel and Pimlico race tracks.

The Jockey Club's pricey petition

By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer

The Maryland Jockey Club spent nearly $660,000 in signature gathering efforts, legal fees and other services in its drive to place a referendum on the ballot this November allowing county voters to decide whether a slots casino near Arundel Mills should go forward.

While the jockey club said it’s doing what it needs to do to help Laurel Park remain a player for slots in Anne Arundel County, others question the organization’s judgment in its spending.

According to petition funding reports, nearly $400,000 of the jockey club’s money went to FieldWorks LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based firm the jockey club hired to assist in the signature-gathering process. The reports were filed with the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections and obtained by The Daily Record through the Maryland Public Information Act. The reports cover services and payments made from Jan. 31 through March 5.

Approximately $190,000 was spent on legal services provided by three firms, with all but about $23,000 going to Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver LLC, the jockey club’s Annapolis-based law firm.

Arundel Mills slots opponents now suing Cordish

By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer

Opponents of a planned slots casino near Arundel Mills are striking back against a lawsuit filed by the developer that claims their work to fight his project was done illegally.

Stop Slots at Arundel Mills, Citizens Against Slots at the Mall, the Maryland Jockey Club and FieldWorks LLC filed motions in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Tuesday to intervene in the suit (PPE Casino Resorts Maryland LLC, et al. v. Anne Arundel County Board of Supervisors of Elections).

The group and individual representatives also filed an “anti-SLAPP” motion, referring to the Maryland SLAPP suit statute that prohibits meritless suits brought by large private interests to deter citizens from exercising their political or legal rights. (SLAPP is an acronym that stands for “strategic lawsuit against public participation.)

Foes of slots at Arundel Mills get enough signatures

By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer

A coalition formed to halt the state’s largest planned slots development near the Arundel Mills mall has succeeded in its campaign to let county voters decide whether to allow the casino to go forward.

According to its Web site, the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections has validated more than the required 18,790 petition signatures to get the measure on the ballot this November. Voters will now decide whether the County Council should have allowed zoning for the slots site planned by Baltimore developer David Cordish.

As of Thursday, 19,054 signatures have been accepted. Several thousand more signatures are still being processed by the election board.

Rob Annicelli, president of the citizens group Stop Slots at Arundel Mills, called the referendum a “daunting task,” but said in a statement he expects several thousand more signatures to be validated by the board.

Maryland Jockey Club submits petition against Arundel Mills slots

By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer

A coalition formed to halt the state’s largest planned slots development near the Arundel Mills mall says it has succeeded in its petition drive to allow county voters to decide whether to allow the casino to go forward.

The petitioners, led by the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates the Laurel Park race track, said in a news release that they had submitted 23,702 signatures in support of a referendum to the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections Thursday afternoon.

That number far exceeds the 9,395 signatures that were needed by Friday and handily beats the 18,790 signatures required to place the zoning ordinance on the ballot in November.

The Jockey Club was supported by the citizens group Stop Slots at Arundel Mills. It also hired Chicago-based Fieldworks Inc. to help collect signatures.

He said, he said: Laurel, Cordish officials trade charges

By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer

Laurel Park officials laid out their case Thursday that their track is better positioned to get a slots facility up and running than the proposed slots site up the road near Arundel Mills, but others say the track has a long way to go — with or without a slots license.

Tom Chuckas, president of the Maryland Jockey Club, disputed the idea that the track is not a viable alternative to the Arundel Mills site. Since 2003, he said, track officials have been working on getting the permits that are required to build a slots facility there.

He said all that’s left is getting a license to operate slots, which could be done within a year if the application process is opened up again.

Laurel Park presents its case for slots

By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer

Laurel Park officials laid out their case Thursday that their track is better positioned to get a slots facility up and running than the proposed slots site up the road near Arundel Mills — with or without a slots operator license.

Tom Chuckas, president of the Maryland Jockey Club, disputed the idea that the track is not a viable alternative to the Arundel Mills site. Since 2003, he said, track officials have been working on getting the permits that are required to build a slots facility.

NFL joins slots and racing in Delaware, but Md. officials aren’t worried

Fans at the sports book at Delaware Park in Wilmington keep track of their wagers during Sunday’s games.WILMINGTON, Del. — It’s about 30 minutes before kickoff of the Cleveland Browns-Baltimore Ravens game on Sunday. NFL jerseys dot the landscape, and lines swell to 20 people deep as fans rush to get everything in order so they can get back to their seats for the game.

But this isn’t M&T Bank Stadium — it’s Delaware Park, a race track and gaming venue just 65 miles up Interstate 95.

“I really wouldn’t come here without sports betting,” said Brian Taylor, 35, who came from Reisterstown with two of his friends to bet and watch the Ravens game. “I’ve been to [Las] Vegas to do some betting, and a one-hour drive is much easier than a five-hour flight out there.”

In the time between February, when Maryland accepted applications for slots operators, to last month, when the state awarded its first license, Delaware passed a bill legalizing sports betting and had it up and running for the National Football League’s opening weekend.

But Maryland officials say they aren’t too worried about one of its neighboring states offering yet another gaming option before slots arrive here, despite the number of Marylanders crossing the state line and wagering in Delaware on Sundays.

Vogel to push for ‘alternative gaming’ at Rosecroft Raceway

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
June 22, 2009 7:03 PM

Greenbelt developer Mark R. Vogel would reinstate live racing at Rosecroft Raceway and plans to push for alternative gaming there if he succeeds in buying the bankrupt harness racing track.

“We’re working to get a deal structured where I’m putting up enough money so we can start live racing next year,” Vogel said Monday.

He added he is also hoping for revenue from slots to start coming in next year to boost the track’s purses.

“So the goal is to show Rosecroft can be a prominent live racing venue again,” he said.

Vogel, who owned Rosecroft in the late 1980s and early 1990s, would not elaborate on what alternative gaming he was considering except to say he was meeting with community members on the topic and looking beyond slot machines.

Race commission says marketing needed in addition to slots

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
February 3, 2009 5:45 PM

Maryland racing officials expressed concern Tuesday that if media coverage of the sport continues to decline, slot machines alone could not fill up the grandstands.

 Maryland Racing Commission members John P. McDaniel (left) and Louis J. Ulman (right) listen to chairman John B. Franzone at the board’s meeting Tuesday at Laurel Park.The issue came up at the Maryland Racing Commission’s first public meeting since the Washington Post announced in December it was dropping its regular coverage of horse racing at Laurel and Pimlico racetracks.

“We’re doomed to fail over time,” commission member John McDaniel said at the meeting, which was held at Laurel Park. “We see every other sport being covered and we’ll do whatever we can politically to launch a frontal attack with The [Baltimore] Sun and The Post, but we need to find a way to allocate some money for publicity. Nobody’s going to go to Laurel if it’s not in the paper and they don’t see some enticement to be there.”

McDaniel also said the decline in racing’s popularity in Maryland can’t be solved solely with bigger purses from slots revenue.

“This isn’t just about slots,” he said. “The long-term problem is trying to reinvigorate and get people talking about this sport.”